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Tips for Data Centers

Better control of your facility’s energy use is often as easy as flipping a switch. Get started with these tips.

Data centers use 2 percent of the electricity in the United States. Make your data center more efficient with these improvements:

  • Save energy with server power-management software, which enables servers to go into standby mode when not in use.
  • Go virtual. Improve your energy efficiency and use less equipment by utilizing a host server to run multiple operating systems and applications.
  • Upgrade your servers to ENERGY STAR® qualified models. In recent tests conducted by the EPA, Hewlett-Packard, and Microsoft, new ENERGY STAR servers used 54 percent less power than some older models.
  • Make use of more efficient uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units.
  • Adjust your data center’s layout to alternate hot aisles and cold aisles, which improves air flow.
  • Follow ASHRAE Technical Committee 9.9 temperature and humidity guidelines. For Class 1 and Class 2 data centers, this means a temperature between 68 and 77° F and 40 to 55 percent relative humidity, with a maximum temperature change per hour of nine degrees.
  • Use an outside air or waterside economizer, air-to-air heat exchanger, or dry cooler to cool your data center.